When it comes to Avatar 2, most of us are, chiefly, concerned with when this endlessly delayed movie will finally get to see the light of day. However, most of us did not shoot Avatar 2 (or 3, or 4), so we don’t have much else to be concerned with. Sigourney Weaver, meanwhile, did, telling T magazine she “had some concerns” with those underwater scenes. In a cover story for the magazine’s “Greats” issue, Weaver continued, “But that’s what the training was for. And I really wanted to do it. I didn’t want anyone to think, ‘Oh, she’s old, she can’t do this.’” The now-71-year-old couldn’t tell us how those underwater scenes related to the plot, but she did give us all the anxious, claustrophobic details of James Cameron’s shoot. For instance, Weaver practiced diving in Hawaii and Key West, Florida, on what must have been anything but a vacation. She learned to hold her breath for six (6) minutes, thanks to supplemental oxygen and a coach who usually worked with military divers.
In the actual tank shoots, Weaver said she couldn’t clamp her mouth or squint her eyes while underwater, where she filmed with weights on her waist and professional divers to bring her above water. “My hope is that what I receive from the universe is even more outrageous than anything I can think of,” Weaver added of chasing difficult parts like the Avatar 2 role. “I don’t really say to myself, ‘Well, you can’t do this.’ Or, ‘You can’t do that.’ Let me at it! And we’ll see.” We, on the other hand, won’t see until at least December 2022, when Avatar 2 is currently set to premiere. We’ll be waiting with bated breath.
